Honestly OK
by Dutchie15
Summary: She had learned it was alright to change things, if it made you feel better. And right now, there was one more thing she felt like changing. Chameron. Placed inbetween seasons 3 and 4.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own House, MD; Chase; Cameron; or anything else concerning the awesome TV show. The lyrics I used are from Dido's 'Honestly OK'. I do own Trisha.  
**Title:** Honestly OK  
**Author:** Dutchie15, Nikki if you wanna get personal ;)  
**Summary:** _She had learned it was alright to change things, if it made you feel better. And right now, there was one more thing she felt like changing. _Chameron. Placed inbetween seasons 3 and 4.  
**Rating:** K+  
**Spoilers:** Inspired by Cameron's appearence from 402 - "The Right Stuff", and on.  
**A/N: **This is my first House fic in general, and my first Chase/Cameron fic as well. Dedicated to the magnificant Cali-Chan for getting me into the House fandom, luring me into the Chameron ship, and being the proof-reader for this fic. Thank you, Carla!

* * *

I _just want to feel safe in my own skin  
I just want to be happy again _

* * *

It felt strange, in a way, to be back here. Satisfying, because she enjoyed being here, she enjoyed being a doctor, in spite of the ambience of sickness and death surrounding her like water did a drowning person. Disappointing, because even though Senior Attending Physician in the Emergency Room wasn't a terrible thing to be, she couldn't help but miss the gratification of her old job. Saddening, because the Emergency Room had loads more patients than she had up in Diagnostics, and many more of them died on her, as well. Sometimes she wished House was there to come up with a brilliant solution to save a fire-fighter whose body was more than seventy percent burned, or a morally questionable surgery to save the little girl that fell out the window from three stories up when her mother wasn't paying attention for a second.

But most of all, it was just strange. Strange, because so many things had happened. Strange, because the course of action she'd taken lately was so unlike Cameron, but then again so undeniably Allison. She'd put an end to three and a half years of pressuring and humiliation and decided to let herself love someone again. She'd become a different person, yet stayed the same. It was complicated.

_Then again, she'd always been a__ttracted to the unexplainable, hadn't she?_

"Alright Patrick, someone will be with you to stitch that forehead of yours, is that okay?" She smiled sweetly at the little boy whom she'd been examining and he nodded to her. "Good. Be careful next time, will you? Take care." She gave a nod to the parents, who stood aside, and they thanked her before she left the room.

She pulled off her latex gloves and disposed of them. She didn't lose all her patients. Sometimes it was as easy as stitching up a nasty gash, or prescribing something as mundane as antibiotics. It had never been that simple in diagnostics. It had never been simple, period. House made sure of that. He only chose the cases that no one understood, with whacky symptoms that couldn't be explained by the regular cause.

She was pretty okay with sending people home with only a shot. It didn't always have to be cancer, or a severe infection, or some rare disease that they'd only heard from through reading the books in medical school. She was fine with a sore back that was just a sore back, or a cough that didn't indicate something horrific.

"Hey Trisha."

A woman standing at the desk looked around. Her long blond ponytail swung aside as she moved her head, and she made a face.

"Oh no, Allison, please don't tell me you're leaving."  
"I am." She answered in a slightly relieved tone.

Trisha let out a moan. "Night shifts are never my favorites, but I can deal as long as there are nice colleagues around. Then again, I heard you just worked three nightshifts in a row before today, so I guess I shouldn't complain."

Cameron nodded sympathetically. "I'm sorry Trish."  
"You're forgiven, hun. How was today?"  
"Decent."

Decent was her standard reply for days that didn't have any spectacular or crazy cases. It was also her standard reply for 'don't ask, I don't want to talk about it'.

"I've got a boy in curtain two that needs to be stitched up; maybe you can ask Mary to do it." Cameron handed the clipboard she was holding over to Trisha, who handed it to a nurse who just walked around the corner.

"Can you stitch him up, Mary?"  
"Yeah, sure."  
"Thanks."

The nurse immediately walked away again, and Cameron wiped her name off the memo board.

"The patient in exam one is still waiting for a surgical consult."  
"What, your little surgeon couldn't even make time to come down and help you out?" Trisha teased.

Cameron let out a laugh.

"'My little surgeon' is probably fast asleep on his couch right now. He pulled a double."  
"Oh, I see. I'll try to get someone else down here, then."  
"Okay, good luck tonight, I'm out."  
"Good. Run, before something comes in and I might need your help on it." Trisha winked and shooed Cameron out with her hands.  
"I'm gone, I'm gone."

Cameron raised her hands at her sides as defense, smiled, and walked away from the Emergency Room. When she exited through the back entrance, she checked her watch. She was actually quite on time, which didn't happen often. Half the time there was something big coming in just as she wanted to leave, or her replacement didn't show up in time and she'd have to stay to fill the gap. She was used to staying overnight in Diagnostics, but it was usually to run tests, or go over files. When she had to stay overnight in the Emergency Room, it meant she'd be running her ass off, all night.

She turned around and stood still for a moment. She could see people rushing behind the glass doors, and she heard the faint sound of an ambulance on the other side of the building. It really was a big change from Diagnostics, but most of the time she liked being here. She didn't have the intention of going back.

It was the last thing she expected, but she actually felt happier now.

With one last look, she left the hospital behind her and started walking towards her car. She had changed. She had learned it was alright to change things, if it made you feel better. And right now, there was one more thing she felt like changing. Maybe they'd have time for her tonight.

* * *

Chase awoke with a start as he heard her key in the lock. He lifted his head off the armrest of his couch and tried to get his eyes adjusted to the darkness around him. Just as he was starting to see silhouettes of his furniture, she flicked on the light. He quickly squeezed his eyes shut and groaned.

"You just had to do that, didn't you?"

He heard her footsteps coming closer, her keys tingling as she laid them down on the teak table in the corner. He heard her take off her coat, and judging by the sound she had dropped it on his chair. He could see the light even through his closed eyelids, and blinked, putting a hand over his eyes as he found it too bright, still.

He could feel the couch sinking in as she kneeled down on it, her arms rubbing against his as she put her hands down on the fabric, one on each side of his body. Her hair tickled his face in places his hand wasn't covering it, he saw a shadow fall over his eyes, and he knew she was leaning over him.

"Wake up, sleepy head."

Her breath on his face, her voice in his ears. His hand still in front of his eyes.

"I am awake, since you cruelly pulled me from a pleasant dream when you came in about a minute ago."  
"Pleasant dream, huh? Was I in it?" He knew she was grinning.  
"Maybe."

He removed his hand to give her a teasing glance, but found his eyes widening in surprise, instead.

"You're…blond!"

He was right; Cameron's brown hair had been replaced by almost straw-colored blond locks. Her hair was loose and still hanging over his face, a smile forming on her lips.

"Excellent diagnosis, Doctor Chase." She smiled.

He reached out with his fingers and ran them through her hair gently. It was still slightly wet from the treatment but it was soft, nonetheless.

"You like it?" She asked.  
"Yeah I like it. It's just so…blond."

She laughed and buckled her arms, leaning her body weight on top of him. He continued to stroke her hair.

"It'll take some time to get used to, I guess. I do like it though." He explained. "Why this sudden…metamorphosis?"  
"It was time for a change."  
"Why blond, though? Why not…red or something?"  
"I'm almost starting to think you don't like it after all." She eyed him suspiciously.  
"Alli, come on. I like it, I'm just wondering where all this came from."

He gave a soft pull on the strand of hair he was holding to emphasize his point.

"I don't know. I guess it's because it's something really different."  
"I get the feeling this is about more than just the hair color." He said, moving his hand to her cheek, stroking that instead.

She leaned into his touch for a moment, searching for words.

"Everything made a 180 degree turn when you got fired." She started, tapping his nose. "I resigned, started a relationship with you, got a new job… it was like everything I knew was changing, and there was one thing that still needed changing."  
Chase raised an eyebrow as he tried to make sense of it. "With that same 180 degree turn?"  
"Exactly. I could've done red, or black, or even a different shade of brown, but blond was a statement, you know? I'm a… a different person on the inside, and now the outside shows that as well."

Chase pulled his hand back from her face and let his head lean on the armrest again. He looked her over once more.

"You're beautiful, Allison."

She placed her hands on his cheeks and leaned in, kissing him softly. He closed his eyes, only to open them again as she separated their lips way too soon for his liking. She merely gave him a small smile.

A lot of things definitely did make that drastic change when he got fired, but she dared to say it had all been for the better. It wasn't that she'd been miserable before -not permanently anyway- it was more that she was…happy, now. He made her happy.

"So are you, Robert. You have no idea."

Seems it wasn't _that_ complicated, after all.

* * *

_I'm looking forward to meeting the C/C squad, so please leave me a review and let me know what you thought! Am I welcomed to write more? :)_


End file.
